Vol. 454 No. 1
11 Mr. Martin asked the Minister for Education if the 1995 junior certificate results could be issued in the month of August; and if they could be posted simultaneously to each examination student at his or her home and to his or her school. [10343/95]
I regret it will not be possible to publish the 1995 junior certificate results in August this year. The Department's resources are fully committed to publishing the results of the leaving certificate in mid-August. However my Department is conducting a feasibility study on improving the technology so that examination results can issue earlier in subsequent years.
In making the junior certificate results available to schools the key objective is to ensure, as far as possible, that all candidates can have access to their results at about the same time and certainly on the same day. I could not guarantee this if the results were to be posted to 65,000 individual addresses. While An Post can guarantee next-day delivery of the results to the 800 post-primary schools, they could not do so for delivery to students' homes. Candidates expecting to receive results at home and failing to do so would undoubtedly become very anxious and I would like to avoid this.
I would also like to stress the positive role played by school principals and teachers in conveying the results directly to their students and the support they provide to candidates who may be distressed by the results. Candidates who are disappointed can be reassured by the principal and teachers that there are options open to them, including applying for a re-check.
It is planned to issue this year's junior certificate results on Tuesday, 12 September, as compared with Thursday, 15 September last year. I hope that by distancing the issue of the results from the weekend, the level of unruly behaviour by a small number of candidates will be reduced.
My purpose in tabling this question related to the last element of the Minister's reply because I do not want to witness, nor I am sure does the Minister, the almost riotous behaviour we did last year in Cork and in major urban centres. Thousands of students gathered on our streets and there was an unacceptable level of substance abuse and alcohol consumption by very young people. Does the Minister agree that in recent years the issuing of the junior certificates results on the one day, when students have returned to school, led directly to this type of unacceptable activity? Will the Minister agree that it should be our priority to avoid a repetition of those scenes which, in the case of my city of Cork, were quite frightening? Will she agree that the issuing of results in August, to each home — and simultaneously to the schools — should override any administrative or other difficulties?
Since today is the first day of public examinations I and all Members of the House offer best wishes to the many thousands of students sitting the junior and leaving certificate examinations.
I might draw Deputy Martin's attention to what I said in replying to his question about unruly behaviour. I was very careful to talk about the level of such behaviour by a very small number of students. When the Deputy's family reaches the stage of sitting the junior and leaving certificates I am sure he would not expect them to be among a certain number of students who engage in such unruly behaviour, in celebrating examination results. I have initiated a feasibility study on bringing forward the date for issuing the results of the junior certificate examination, in response to calls from parents' associations who are somewhat worried that his behaviour may be receiving more media coverage than it deserves. I have a responsibility to respond to such calls and ensure that nothing I or my Department do will encourage such unruly behaviour. Of course, the priority is to issue the leaving certificate examination results. There have been many technological improvements and innovations within the Examinations Division in Athlone, with the aid of whose officials we have been able to bring forward the issuing of the junior certificate results to Tuesday, 12 September, 1995.
Parents and school principals have a particular role to play. For instance, when I impart information on schools dismissing children for the remainder of the day, as opposed to neighbouring schools, who allow their students convey the results to their parents and return to school, we must remember there are a number of parties involved in handling such matters, particularly the junior certificate examination results. With the technological advances now available to my Department we will be able to move forward so that the results can be issued in August. Since, as is well known, all the papers are corrected simultaneously, it is the departmental priority to feed the leaving certificate results into the system. If An Post cannot guarantee to deliver examination results to 65,000 individual addresses on one day we should await the outcome of the feasibility study and ascertain what can be done next year. In the meantime, I would request parents and school principals to respond positively to the earlier date for the issue of the examination results this year, in order that displays of unruly behaviour, to which Deputy Martin referred, are not alone discouraged but, if possible, eliminated.
We on this side of the House are becoming somewhat tired of talk of feasibility studies and research bodies being advanced as excuses for lack of action, since technological developments are sufficiently well advanced to facilitate the type of changes we require. The Minister's reply indicated some complacency on this matter. Last year I witnessed very frightening scenes. Many students wanted to enjoy themselves wholesomely but because of the "junior certificate night out", certain people in towns and cities provided entertainment in particular locations. Hundreds of students clamoured to gain entrance, leading to very dangerous circumstances. Will the Minister accept that this warrants urgent attention rather than that it is a matter given undue coverage by the media and that steps must be taken to deal with it?
I was requested by the Parents' Association to examine this matter, which I have done. This year, with the help of officials in the Examinations Division in Athlone, it has been possible to bring forward the date for junior certificate results to the beginning of the week, that is, 12 September 1995. At present we do not have the technological apparatus to feed the junior certificate results that come in simultaneously with those for the leaving certificate into our computer system——
At this stage the Department should have such apparatus in place.
I know the Deputy's shopping list of changes to be introduced is becoming ever longer and I would introduce them if I could. It is not appropriate for Members to run down feasibility or other studies. Rather, we should responsibly seek solutions to a problem I have acknowledged. Nonetheless, I must state that the Minister for Education is not responsible for every student who participates in the "junior certificate night out"; there are others who have a responsibility for students' behaviour. I ask everybody to bear with us. I and my Department have responded to a request to deal with the problem and are doing so in the best possible manner. Perhaps this time next year I will be in a position to give a positive reply to the Deputy's question.
